Gurren Lagann: The next generation
by Heroheart
Summary: See what happens to this world when Simon is'nt there to protect it.But with the fall of the old brings the rise of the new.
1. Chapter 1 Intro

Simon, the young boy who nobody thought would be good for anything, besides digging, has saved the universe from the anti-spiral. Once again Simon is the savior of this world, but shortly after his victory he left leaving behind the core drill and his famous gunmen Gurren Lagann and he disappeared into the world. For once war and chaos seemed to be far away and that peace was finally endless, but they were wrong. 30 years after Simon's disappearance New Kamina city was attacked by an organization known as the Immortals. The Immortals believed that the government should be an empire and that the words and beliefs of the leader should be law (absolutely no exceptions). When their idea was shot down by the citizens, the leader of the Immortals Kiayata decided to take the government by force and so, they attacked the city in an all out battle for control. At first it seemed like an easy victory for the government, but Kiayata was saving his gunmen as a secret weapon. This mysterious gunmen's power was so unrestrained that it destroyed every single other gunmen until only Gurren Lagann and its new pilots were all that was left. They fought valiantly, but to no avail. This evil new gunmen completely destroyed Gurren by slashing it in half. The impact of it managed to kill both pilots and Lagann and the core drill disappeared immediately after Gurren's destruction. With their line of defense gone, the Immortals were able to easily overthrow the government and in the process Kiayata killed Rossiu. Kiayata became the emperor of his new empire and locked away anyone who apposed it. Now he sends out his gunmen soldiers to conquer parts of the world. The people are now enslaved believing that Lagann was destroyed and that Simon abandoned this world, but some believe that one day someone will find Lagann and bring an end to this cruel empire.


	2. Chapter 2 Meet Nanashi

10 years after the conquering of New Kamina city and most of the world has been enslaved by Kiayata and the Immortals. Some parts of the world have been left alone due to their lack of resources and their lack of wealth and others have been constantly terrorized by Kiayata's gunmen forces who take joy in putting fear into to these humble villagers. Our story truly begins in a tiny village known as Diagon. The villagers are in constant terror because they are unpleasantly visited by the gunmen forces. By the lake of this run down village is a strong tree and under it fishing by the river is a young 14-year old boy named Nanashi. Nanashi is a boy with bright red spiky hair and is medium height (not very tall but not very short), and is relatively scrawny (he can also be a short fuse so most people avoid pointing that out). Nanashi lives alone because his parents were killed in the first raid of the village, so he's learned to live and take care of himself. "Well this is getting me nowhere" said Nanashi becoming impatient with his fishing, "Why do I fish here anyway, I never catch anything". Suddenly his fishing rod started to give a tug, and he started reeling in his line. "Looks like I spoke too soon!" he said with excitement, "Oh yeah looks like its fish sticks for dinner tonight! Boy this thing's heavy, must be really big". After struggling for awhile he finally pulled the fish out, but this fish looked really small and weird, in fact it wasn't a fish at all. It was some kind of small drill shaped necklace. "Ah man! There goes dinner, and it looks like some lady dropped her necklace in the lake" said Nanashi, feeling disappointed. Nanashi starred at the pendant for a bit and wondered what it was and the the more he thought the more confused he got. "This is some weird looking necklace, I wonder what kind of girl decided to wear that, hhmmm…..I know Yakumo could tell what it is he's always in to this weird stuff". Yakumo is Nanashi's best friend, who likes to tinker with many strange items and machines (mainly beat up gunmen parts though). So Nanashi started to run over to his friend's mechanic shop to find out what this strange pendant was, not knowing that this little pendant would change both their lives forever.


	3. Chapter 3 The mysterious pendant

Back in the village of Diagon, Nanashi was running towards his best friend, Yakumo's mechanic shop, but when he finally got there he saw an explosion coming out of the shop. "Well looks like he's at it again" Nanashi said with a sigh, "I wonder what he blew up this time?" when the smoke cleared Nanashi went inside to find Yakumo next to a coffee maker that was covered in black scorch marks. "Hey there Nanashi, What's up?" said the ash covered Yakumo. Yakumo is about 2 years older than Nanashi, like Nanashi Yakumo's parents were killed in the raid on their village, so he decided to not only to be his best friend but also to be like a guiding older brother (even though he's not good at that). He's a little on the weird side, takes great interest in gunmen (especially beaten up ones) and sometimes teases Nanashi about him being scrawny.

"What did you do this time Yakumo?" said Nanashi, "Well I was trying to fix this coffee machine so that it would respond to voice command, but it blew up and I really needed that coffee too." Yakumo replied "Jeez man would kill you to try and not let your curiosity get the best of you!" at this point Nanashi has gotten irritated with his pal blowing things up. "Well sorry, but a man needs his coffee while on the job!" Yakumo said with a slight high-pitch squeak. "Never mind that, listen I found this weird pendant thing while I was fishing. Do you know what it could be?" Yakumo glanced at the strange drill shaped pendant and after examining it he said "I don't know, it looks oddly familiar, but I can't remember why, but keep it with you because I might be able to figure it out."

After hearing this Nanashi left the shop and decided to spend the night under the big tree near the lake. Nanashi spent most of the time he got there wondering what this pendant was and then suddenly it started to glow bright green, making a strange sound. "Oh my god, I didn't break this thing did I?" Nanashi said in shock as it continued to glow and then from out of nowhere the pendant started to give a tug, like it was leading him somewhere. "What's going on here? Maybe I should see where this thing leads to." Said Nanashi as he started to run in the direction this mysterious pendant was tugging.

To be continued…..


	4. Chapter 4 the gunmen shrimp

In the darkest of the night by Diagon's Lake Nanashi continued to follow the pendant's sharp pull. It seemed to be leading him somewhere. As Nanashi kept going the same question appeared in his head over and over again. "Why is this happening and of all the people why is it me?" he wondered, thinking if it was happening because of something he did wrong. "Well wherever this thing is leading me I'm sure I'll find the answer there." he said with confidence in his heart. Finally the pendant's tug went in another direction away from the lake, as it continued to pull Nanashi noticed that it was pulling him in a part of the village that he never saw before. Nanashi's jaw dropped when he saw this new area, it appeared to be what looked like a junk yard full of scrap metal, broken appliances and old gunmen parts. After awhile of following the pendant around the junk yard the tug stopped pulling and started to point at a pile of scrap metal and what appeared to be something under it.

"This is it, that stupid piece of jewelry led me here!" Nanashi screamed with disappointment. Suddenly out of nowhere the pendant gave another pull towards the pile. "Wait maybe I'm supposed to look under the pile, heh well duh!" and with that Nanashi started to move the pieces of scrap and when he got all of them out of the way Nanashi saw what looked like a small gunmen that looked like a head with arms and legs poking out and completely covered in dirt. "That is one shrimp sized gunmen." Said the unimpressed Nanashi, "Well I better show Yakumo this, he'd have a field day with it" He said as he started to roll the gunmen to Yakumo's shop.


	5. Chapter 5 Lagann?

Unfortunately Nanashi never expected the small gunmen to be so heavy, so it took him all night and a part of the morning to roll it all the way to Yakumo's shop. Finally when he got there he yelled for Yakumo with what little breath he had left, "Hey Yakumo! I found something I know you'd like!" Yakumo came down all drowsy and said "It's four in the morning, what is it?" Nanshi simply replied "I found this in this junk yard near the lake". Yakumo examined the robot and said "Well why'd did you take so long to get here?" and Nananshi with an irritated attitude yelled "DON"T GET STARTED WITH ME! IT WAS HARD TO GET THIS BUCKET OF BOLTS UP HERE!" then Yakumo took another look and said "Hmmmm, well I think I've seen this kind of gunmen before, but I can't remember where. It'd be easier to tell if it wasn't covered in all this dirt." So Yakumo took a machine cleaner (it's kind of like a power washer for machines) and started to clean the grime and dirt off the small gunmen. When he finished the gunmen's true colors showed as clear as day. It was bright red on the part surrounding the face and had an almost pink like color on the hatch and the face. Almost immediately after Yakumo cleaned it, his jaw dropped and his eyes became really wide with amazement. "Nanashi, do you have any idea what you've stumbled on?" Yakumo said with a sharp raspy sound in his voice "What do you mean? It just looks like a gunmen shrimp to me." replied Nanashi. "Come on man! Haven't you ever paid attention in history class?!" Yakumo said in a surprised tone, "Uh, well what does that have to do with anything?" said Nanashi and Yakumo continuing to yell with surprise and excitement answered "This gunmen was the one used to save the human race twice, it was used by Simon the digger to defeat the Spiral king and the Anti-spiral! This gunmen is none other than the legendary Lagann!"

Nanashi still confused said "Lagann? What's that supposed to be?" and Yakumo with even more disappointment said "Didn't you listen to what I just said?! This thing saved the world twice and was part of the unstoppable Gurren Lagann! And if my hunch is correct that must mean that pendant you found is the core drill! The key to Lagann and our freedom!" suddenly an old man named Gaigan (who technically owns the shop) interrupted Yakumo's long drawn out, but unfinished speech by saying "Rubbish, just rubbish! You think that this gunmen will save us? Or were you hoping that the digger you were talking about will come back? Well face you two, Simon the digger has abandoned us! He's never coming back and this puny gunmen you found is probably just a knock off. So for once in your life Yakumo get your head out of the clouds and face reality, you're a lowly mechanic and nothing more and as for your scrawny friend here, he's nothing but a lazy bum who just watches the world pass by! So get that through your thick skulls and live with that fact." And the grumpy old man stormed off. "Dumb old geezer" Yakumo said under his breath, "Don't listen to that old fart Nanashi, because someday we're going to get out of this village and see the world, I just know it." And as Nanashi listened to these words he realized he too wanted to leave the village to see the world and as he tried to imagine it there was suddenly a loud booming noise.


	6. Chapter 6 The enforcers attack

The sound was loud and startling, like thunder or an explosion "What was that?!" Nanashi said to an equally startled Yakumo, who responded by shrugging his shoulders. They both ran outside to find that there was smoke and panic throughout the village, they were acting as if the world was coming to an end or if a meteor was heading right for them. Both Yakumo and Nanashi were confused from all the hysteria, until they found old man Gaigan lying face down in the road bleeding. Shocked of his mentors condition, Yakumo ran over to help the old man up, but Gaigan refused and said "No my student, my time has come just leave me here I'm finished" Yakumo simply ignored his request and started to help him in to the shop. "Sorry you crusty old geezer, but today's not that kind of day for you. Now tell me, what happed?" Gaigan did not speak, it was as if the words he was going to use to describe the crisis panicked and ran away like most of the villagers. When Nanashi, Yakumo and Gaigan got to the shop, the silence was broken by Gaigan and his panicky answer for Yakumo's previous question. "It's them, the enforcers, they're back!" (The enforcers are troops of Kiayata who are responsible for keeping villages in check in the way Kiayata would like it. They also get a kick out of terrorizing villages with their gunmen). In that moment Nanashi was truly scared, just the mere mention of the enforcers made his skin crawl and he kept thinking if he was going to die the same way his parents did in the enforcers raid years ago.

Nanashi took a small peek outside to discover that the old man was right, because outside were seven towering gunmen who were wrecking the village. "Those bastards, why do they have to terrorize innocent people?" Nanashi said as the thought of these heartless soldiers started to make his blood boil. "What can we do? We have nothing to fight them with, we never do." Nanashi continued and suddenly a big excited look appeared on Yakumo's face as he responded "Yes we do. All the tools we need for fighting them off, is right here!" and as he said that he directed Nanashi's attention towards Lagann. "ARE YOU NUTS!" Nananshi screamed, "I don't know how to pilot a gunmen and even if I did I'd get slaughtered out there in that thing! I mean look at how small it is compared to those other gunmen, they'll squish me like a bug!" Yakumo gave a small smirk and said "who says you need to fight them alone? I've got some thing that will solve that problem to." And he went over to this huge cloth covered figure and revealed it. Under the cloth there was a big steel colored gunmen that kind of resembled a skull like face with arms and legs, but it looked unfinished because some of its internal parts were showing. "I started making this with all the old gunmen parts I've been finding. As you can see it's not finished yet, but if this plan works then that won't matter! Well what do you think?" At this point Gaigan passed out from exhaustion and Nanashi was confused "Okay, I give up, what are you planning?" said Nanashi and Yakumo said in response "You only need to stall them with Lagann while I put the finishing touches on this big guy and then when it's finished I'll swoop in with it and take them down."

"Wait, what makes you think that I can pilot Lagann? You should do it, you know more about it then I do and…." Yakumo didn't let him finish the sentence because he slapped his right hand down on Nanashi's shoulder and said "Nanashi, you're the one who found the core drill and Lagann. They chose you for a reason I just know it and for that reason that makes you the one who needs to pilot Lagann, not me." Yakumo's speeches always had a way to touch Nanashi, so he thought it over and said "Alright, I'll do it" suddenly Lagann's cockpit opened and Nanashi got inside and said "Alright Lagann! Show me what you got!"


	7. Chapter 7 The greed of enforcers

The ironic part of Nanashi's previous actions was that Lagann didn't move when he got in. "Hey why won't it move?" Nanashi asked Yakumo as he replied "You need to put the core drill into Lagann". Nanashi was confused by this, but then again wouldn't you be if your friend didn't explain himself. "How do I do that?" wondered Nanashi, he looked around the cockpit until he found a what appeared to be a hole on the drive screen and just from looking at it, both the core drill and the weird hole started to glow green, like the night Nanashi found Lagann and from seeing this glow Nanashi knew where the core drill was to be inserted. So with confidence and at the same time nervous jitters, Nanashi inserted the core drill into the drive screen and suddenly Lagann's eyes opened and lit up with a flash of bright green. From inside the cockpit Nanashi released his excitement "Alright now we're talking! Now those enforcers won't know what hit them, although I wish I knew how to move this thing." Nanashi tried jiggling the handles in front of him, but all that seemed to do was move Lagann's arms, so eventually after awhile of that he started to bounce up and down to see if that would help, but all it did was tip Lagann over on it's back. "Okay, now remember just keep them busy long enough for me to finish my gunmen and then I get there. I'll keep contact with you through the com channels, but before you leave could you please say help I've fallen and can't get up?" and with that Nanashi simply replied "Shut up".

After falling down several hundred times, Nanashi finally got the hang of moving (he still wasn't very good though) and started to hobble over to the town square, where the enforcers were all gathered up. Meanwhile in the town square the villagers were ready to give in to the demands of the cruel enforcers, "Now listen you worthless piles of dirt, this isn't your world anymore it's emperor Kiayata's and if you want us to leave you all in one piece you'll give me and my crew what we want and what we want is all the money this worthless town has, until we're rich!" scared of these men the crowd of villagers started to panic, because Diagon is a very poor village and they barely have enough money to sustain themselves (they manage any way though). So the mayor of Diagon stepped up and said with a stutter in his speech, "B-b-b-but we don't have a lot of money sir. W-w-w-we just don't have enough to pay you" and the captain of these enforcers, Yasoku got into his gunmen and said, "Oh, is that so? Well then, looks like you're going to pay us with your lives then! Boys, show them pain!" and as the first gunmen lifted his arm to swipe the villagers a voice came from the distance that said "STOP!" like if it was someone screaming in your ear. In the distance there was a small gunmen whose pilot continued to talk by saying, "Leave them alone! Try picking on some one your own side you bastards!" it was none other than Nanashi who had come to follow through with Yakumo's plan. The enforcers took one solid look at Nanashi and Lagann and started to break out into hysterical laughter. "What puny gunmen" said on enforcer, "This runt thinks he can take us on with that thing? He's out of his mind!" said the enforcer next to him.

The captain quickly silenced the laughter and said "Enough talk boys. Attack that shrimp!" and the enforcers gunmen began to charge at Lagann and before Nanashi could even think to react, he found himself running away.


	8. Chapter 8 Nanashi's new weapon the drill

Nanashi continued to run as the enforcers kept chasing him. He practically ran around in circles fifty times, or at least it felt that way to him and as Nanashi ran only one thought pattern went through his mind, "I-I'll die if I fight them. I don't stand a chance, so I'll just keep running until Yakumo gets here and besides he just said I have to keep them busy he never said I had to fight them." This thought kept replaying in his mind over and over again, until he couldn't care to listen to those thoughts anymore. Nanashi, at his wits end decided to call Yakumo with the Lagann's communication setting. "Yakumo are you there!? I'm getting chased where are you?" and Yakumo responded with "I'll be there soon. I'm just putting on the finishing touches." And Nanashi said "What are you adding some kind of weapon?", but Yakumo said "No. actually I'm adding the paint job." For a moment it was silent, until Nanashi started to yell "Are you kidding me!? I'm out here running from death and your fooling around with that thing's color!?" and the artistic toned Yakumo simply said "Well you don't expect me to go into battle with a naked gunmen, do you? Just relax I'll get there when I'm done." And just like that Yakumo ended the transmission. Eventually after all that running Nananshi finally stopped when he tripped over Lagann's feet. From this he tumbled until he hit the wall of a cottage and to make matters worse the enforcers caught up to him and surrounded him.

"Hey boss! It looks like the runt doesn't know how to fight." Said one enforcer, "Yeah, so we can just kill him without much trouble." Another enforcer responded. "Yeah I figured he wasn't going to be a threat. I mean look at him he's just some cowardly little kid with a shrimp of a gunmen." The words of that enforcer pierced Nanashi like a knife in his heart and images of that first raid and how he did nothing as his parents were killed played through his head. Both the images and the words made his blood boil, he hated being called a coward and he realized that from running away from these people indeed made him a coward. So Nanashi made Lagann stand up and he said "So I'm a coward huh, well I guess I should prove you wrong then!" and with that Lagann quickly charged straight forward, jumped in the air and punched the first enforcer's gunmen. Nanashi then made Lagann then landed on its feet and in response jumped backwards towards the other enforcer and gave an uppercut to the other gunmen. "Ha is that all you got?" bellowed Nanashi as he gave a hearty laugh, "Even though I'm doing great I'll get nowhere if I'm just punching and kicking. Lets see what else this thing can do." thought Nanashi and suddenly he noticed some buttons on the handles, so he pressed it and suddenly Lagann's right hand became a drill. "A drill huh" Nanashi said to himself, "Well not the weapon I was hoping for but it will have to do." And with that he charged forward with drill blazing and used it to destroy the two enforcers from before. He then noticed that with Lagann he could sprout drills from any where on Lagann's body, not just it's arms and he continued to use this power to his advantage by destroying three more enemy gunmen. Although after awhile the enforcers started to gang up on Nanashi and they started to bump him around. Nanashi started to think "This is it. There's too many to fight and win." And just when he thought it was all over, one of the enforcer's gunmen got shot by something and was instantly destroyed. "What was that?" Nanashi wondered and right after that thought he heard a familiar voice, "Hey! Stop picking on my pal, you enforcer bastards!" and Nanashi looked up and saw a white skull faced gunmen whose arm became a canon and it continued to shoot the enforcer's gunmen and then he jumped down from his ledge and said "Sorry to keep you waiting Nanashi." It was Yakumo and his newly finished gunmen.

"What took you so long?! I nearly got fried out there what were you doing?!" said Nanashi

"I told you, I was putting on the finishing touches!" replied Yakumo

"Alright well you're here now so let's get these guys!" said Nanashi

And they charged into battle.


	9. Chapter 9 Rise of New Gurren

The battle seemed longer than it really was. There were dozens of enforcer gunmen, but they were no match for Lagann's drills or Yakumo's crazy gunmen fighting style (whatever that might be). It seemed to go on for what felt like hours, until finally the captain of this enforcer squad yelled out

"ENOUGH! I refuse to be beaten by some pipsqueak gunmen pilot and his psycho friend!"

and with that he got into his gunmen, but this particular gunmen was more menacing and looked more like something you would see in your nightmares,

"Now I'll I show you the meaning of pain, with the power of a captain's gunmen!"

Almost immediately after he said that he lunged forward at them and began to attack Yakumo and Nanashi. Nanashi tried to hit him with one of Lagann's drills, but before he had a chance the captain kicked him like a soccer ball and in response Yakumo tried to use his gunmen's muscle power to bring this behemoth gunmen down, but unfortunately it seemed that it over powered Yakumo's gunmen with extreme force. Then after the two were down on their backs the behemoth picked up both of them and threw them into the ledge where Yakumo jumped from.

"Damn, he's good, real good." Yakumo said under his breath

"What do we do? He's too strong, how can beat him?" said Nanashi

Yakumo thought and thought and thought until finally an Idea hatch in his brain.

"Nanashi, I think I have an idea, but you'll need to trust me on this and no matter how crazy it seems, just go with it." Whispered Yakumo to Nanashi, who became puzzled by what his friend meant and said

"Uh, okay if it will bring this bastard down then I'll do it." And with that Yakumo picked up Lagann and Nanashi and yelled

"Okay now use the bottom drill now!" and without another word Nanashi pressed the button and instantly Lagann's arms and legs disappeared leaving a big drill in place of its legs. Yakumo then engaged his canon and put Lagann's upper end in the opening of the canon. Startled by this Nanashi said with a nervous tone

"Uh, Yakumo, what are you doing?" Yakumo simply replied

"What I have to." In a way that made him seem dramatic (Even though it looked more like he was showing off) as he did the captain stood there and then said "You think that dinky weapon can pierce me? HA! Just try it." And he started to charge in the path of the two boys, but Yakumo simply just aimed his canon at the charging behemoth and then yelled

"Here it comes! Speeding drill!!!" and he shot Lagann out of his cannon projecting him at great speed and with it Lagann's drill went straight through the behemoth, which instantly exploded. Unfortunately for Nanashi he and Lagann smacked right into a ledge after piercing the captain's gunmen, Yakumo ran over to himand said

"Are you okay buddy?" Nanashi opened Lagann's cockpit and said

"YOU SHOT ME OUT OF A CANON! HOW THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM!" The other villagers came out of their hiding places and started to stare at the gunmen that saved their village. Yakumo opened the cockpit of his gunmen and started to say

"Thank you for the applause! Any time really, so you don't have to…", but he was interrupted by the mayor who started yell

"What have you done? Now that you've retaliated they'll send more to terrorize us and you're taking this as a joke!? You two think you're heroes, but you're wrong you've brought even more suffering to our town! You're no longer welcome here, so leave now!" and just like that the whole village started to boo and hiss at the two boys. Yakumo simply yelled

"You're all ungrateful you know that! We just saved your lives and you're calling us the bad guys!?" Nanashi closed the cockpit and said

"Let's just go Yakumo. You were right Lagann chose me for a reason and if that means leaving Diagon then fine, so let's just go."

"Well alright." And after Yakumo said that he closed his cockpit and the two started to walk away. A little while after they left Yakumo said

"Hey you know I've decided to call this gunmen New Gurren. It makes sense since your gunmen is Lagann,so I thought why not?" and Nanashi replied

"Sure that sounds good" and the two pals walked off into the sunset.


	10. Chapter 10 The wasteland

In the distance of a desert like mountain region known only as the wasteland, where life seems distant and unfound, is where Kiayata's troops have destroyed and ravaged former cities and villages. Anyone who previously tried to stop them were killed, but hope is not lost, recently a young boy named Nanashi found the powerful core drill and shortly after he found the legendary gunmen named Lagann and with it he and his best friend Yakumo, who pilots his gunmen, New Gurren have stood up to the enforcers and saved their village from destruction, unfortunately in result the villagers banished them from the village of Diagon because they believed that because they fought back that the Kiayata would send more threatening troops to terrorize them. So Nanashi and Yakumo left the village awaiting the new adventures that would come their way. This is their story.

In the middle of this horrible land known as the wasteland are two metal figures walking through it, one small and one big. The big one is Yakumo who is inside New Gurren and the smaller one is Nanashi who is piloting Lagann and they are both on they're journey to see the world like they dreamed back in Diagon. Unfortunately for them they are now exhausted which came as a conclusion when they bothe stopped moving their gunmen. Nanashi opened his communications with Yakumo and said

"Hey Yakumo…." And yakumo responded in a similar tired tone

"What Nanashi?"

"We probably should've packed ourselves for the trip before leaving….." said Nanashi. Yakumo thought for a minute and then smacked himself and said

"Yeah that probably would've been smart." Nanashi's stomach growled and a very drained look came across his face as he said

"I'm starving man! Didn't you bring anything to eat?" Yakumo sighed and replied

"No. All I took with me were my tools and believe me when I say fried wrench probably tastes as good as it sounds." After five more minutes of staying still Nanashi spotted a shady little ridge, that looked very inviting to an over heated Nanashi and Yakumo.

"Let's rest here for a second and then we'll get back to moving forward." Said Nanashi and they went over to the shady ridge and got out of their gunmen to rest. Suddenly Yakumo spotted a canteen and without second thought he ran straight towards it and was immediately ensnared by a foot trap that started to hang him upside down from the wall of the ridge. Nanashi stared at his pal who was hanging by his leg holding an empty canteen.

"That's what you get for letting your stomach get to your hea….." Nanashi was quickly interrupted when he spotted a slab of bone meat a little ways away from where Yakumo was.

"FOOOOOD!" and Nanashi ran straight for the bone meat and immediately after picking it up he was also ensnared by the same trap Yakumo fell into. As Nanashi starred down at the ground, he realized that the bone meat he was drooling over was made of plastic.

"What was that about letting your stomach get the best of you?" Yakumo sneered

"Oh shut up!" Nanashi said with a growl. Yakumo looked at the canteen and said

"You know I think this canteen is empty." Nanashi then started yell

"Oh! No crap, dumbass! That's the idea for leaving bait for a trap!" and Yakumo just laughed and said

"You know it's amazing someone as scrawny as you would eat as much as you do." Yakumo said with a giggle in his voice

"What was that?!" yelled Nanashi

"You heard me! S-C-R-A-W-N-Y, SCRAWNY!" joked Yakumo.

Nanashi became really, really angry from this (he hates when people judge him by looks) and began to struggle with the trap to get near Yakumo to beat him up.

"As soon as I get down from here, I'm going to kick your ass!" Yakumo sighed and responded

"Yeah that's the least of my worries. The worst is if Indians came out of nowhere pointing guns at us!" and almosy immediately after saying that a bunch of people, young and old wearing masks, came out of nowhere and pointed several types of weapons at the two boys.

"You and your big mouth!" said a pissed off Nanashi and Yakumo in response, looked at the people and said

"Well not all of the stuff pointed at us are guns and they aren't exactly Indians either so it could've been wor….." Nanashi interrupted Yakumo by yelling

"Don't say it! Just SHUT UP!" after the too boys argued one girl, about Nanashi's age took off her mask and said to the boys

"What is you're purpose here in the wasteland? Haven't you damn enforcers had enough of terrorizing other yet?"

Nanashi then got angrier and yelled

"Don't mix us in with those bastards! We were just passing through, so back off!"

The girl stared at Nanashi examining his ripped up pants and lack of other clothing and the core drill Nanashi caught in his hand before it feel off his neck.

"Wow, you're energetic for a scrawny guy and haven't you ever heard of wearing a shirt before" Nanashi then violently wiggled and screamed

"RRRAAAAAGH! That's none of your business and I'm not scrawny!" the girl looked at the core drill more closely and then suddenly her eyes became filled with shock

"He has the core drill that "Dayakka and Leeron talked about!" suddenly the people became silent and still. The girl cut down Nanashi and Yakumo from the trap. The girl then grabbed Nanashi by the arm and said

"Come with me and leave you gunmen outside." And she started to pull Nanashi towards a cave while Yakumo followed behind them.


	11. Chapter 11 A familliar face

The girl continued to pull Nanashi by the arm, as they kept going with Yakumo trailing behind them. After a couple of minutes they reached a cave at the side of the ridge, but when they got there Nanashi regained his grip from the girl and blurted out

"Hold on a minute! Where are you taking me and what are you up to!" the girl just looked at him and said

"I'm not going to hurt you; I'm just going to show you two to our village." She then pointed her finger at Nanashi and continued to speak

"You especially need to see it. There is someone there you need to meet." She then turned away from Nanashi and continued to lead him and Yakumo through the tunnel of the cave. Nanashi sighed and continued to follow the girl, shortly after Nanashi began to stare at her. She was his age with long pink hair, she was an inch shorter than he was and had pretty brown eyes and she also was wearing a skirt and a jacket that had what appeared to be the symbol of a hand. Suddenly Yakumo put his hand on Nanashi's shoulder and whispered to him

"She's a cutie, don't you think?" and in response Nanashi turned bright red, even redder than his own hair and said in a low tone

"Oh, knock it off Yakumo! I just met her and besides she's way too serious! She needs to lay back more!" Yakumo gave a smug little grin and said "Sure she is…..I know what you're thinking." Nanashi then turned back to his skin color and said in an angry whisper

"I don't even know her name Yakumo! So before you start teasing me think about…" he was interrupted when the girl said out of nowhere

"Yuriko" Nanashi and Yakumo quickly looked at her and then Nanashi asked

"Huh, what?" and the girl simply responded

"My name, it's Yuriko" and she continued to lead the two boys through the tunnel. Yakumo resumed his smug grin and said in a playful, but tricky tone

"Well, you know now." Nanashi then punched him in the arm and said

"Shut up." After a while of following Yuriko down the tunnel they finally got to a gate, Yuriko knocked on it in a strange pattern and the doors opened and inside was a giant community of people walking around, buying things in the shops and minding their own business.

"Wow, look at this place!" said Yakumo with excitement "This place is much higher class than our village wouldn't you say Nanashi?" Nanashi observed the village's surroundings. It seemed to look like it was underground; there was some kind of crystal that was providing all the light from the ceiling of the cave and in the area they were in, there were many shops and restaurants all over the place.

"Welcome to our village, the crystal village." Said Yuriko with a smile. She then grabbed Nanashi's arm again and said

"I'll now take you to the one you need to see, core drill bearer" Nanashi sighed and said

"Don't call me that! My name is Nanashi and that crazy mechanic over there is Yakumo!" Yuriko smiled again and said

"Okay nice to meet you Nanashi, Yakumo. Now let's go I'll lead you to him." Yakumo butted in and said "Is the one we're going to meet gonna be Leeron, because that would be so cool?" Nanashi looked at the glimmer in Yakumo's eyes and said

"What's the big deal? Do you know him or something?" Yakumo glared at Nanashi and then grabbed him from Yuriko and said

"You really have never paid attention in history class have you? Leeron was the mechanic for team Gurren and I've always wanted to be as good at being a mechanic as he was." Yuriko interrupted him by saying

"Leeron left awhile ago with Diayaka and his family, but there is someone else from team Gurren who you're about to meet" Yuriko grabbed Nanashi a third time and brought him and Yakumo to a small cabin in the village. She opened the door and inside in the dark, sitting on a chair was a looming figure. As the light hit him Nanashi noticed that he had long blonde-like hair color, including a small beard, bright yellow eyes, big furry hands that appeared to have claws and fangs that looked like they could pierce bone themselves.

"Yuriko….." said the weird figure "Who are two boys and why have you brought them here?" he said in a raspy voice.

"Forgive me Viral, but you need to meet this boy in particular, he bears the core drill around his neck." Yuriko said to the figure named Viral. Viral stood up and walk towards Nanashi, examining his stature. He then grabbed Nanashi by the arm with one hand and grabbed the core drill with the other and yelled "Where did you get this?! Answer me child!" Nanashi responded in a terrified way

"I-I-I found it in a lake while fishing." And suddenly there was a loud bang outside the cave and Yakumo, Nanashi, Yuriko, and Viral all rushed outside to see what was going on.


	12. Chapter 12 The evil captian,Doki

As Nanashi and the others ran to the exit of the village only one thought went through Nanashi's head

"Why is this happening? And to all people, why me?" the tunnel seemed to get longer and longer after every second. When they all got outside Nanashi's jaw dropped. Outside was a huge gunman who was killing all the villagers that Yuriko was with earlier. To Nanashi the gunmen looked like death itself and in that very moment Nanashi's get up and go attitude faded. The gunmen itself was the darkest of black all of over, its arms were very long and its hands were very big too. To the naked eye, the gunmen looked like a menacing mix of a black Hercules beetle and a demon, but in the eyes of someone terrified it looked more like the devil. It was failing its arms around at the villager like they were bugs and when it was done with that its fingers became big gun and it started to shoot them at other villagers and survivors. Nanashi was about to run back into the cave, but, when he turned around to run, he saw Yuriko in tears. He starred at her crying for a second, completely forgetting how scared he was.

"This all my fault…" she sobbed "If I brought them into the tunnel with me, then that enforcer wouldn't be here and they'd all still be alive." She fell on her knees and continued to cry for the innocents who've just been killed. Viral put one of his big furry hands on Yuriko's shoulder, looked down at her and said

"Yuriko, get those two inside. I'll try to hold off this pilot." Yuriko continued to sob as she responded

"But you don't have a gunman! You'll die too!" Viral took his hand off her shoulder and said

"Maybe, but I do have experience with gunmen and at least you'll be safe even if I die here in this moment." Viral stepped forward and began to walk near the gunman. Yuriko then got on her feet and while still crying she faced Nanashi and Yakumo and pleaded

"Please, you have to use your gunmen to save Viral! If he dies I'll lose the closest thing I have to a family!" Yakumo put his hand on Yuriko's shoulder and said

"Alright we'll do it; you just find a safe place to hide. Let's go Nanashi!" and without another word Yakumo ran straight towards where they left Lagann and New Gurren. Nanashi continued to stare at the crying girl for only another moment and then he followed Yakumo to the gunmen. As the two boys got into their gunmen Viral began his attempt to ward off this fiendish gunman and it's pilot.

"Leave now enforcer!" exclaimed Viral, "This place is not your land, so leave now or suffer the consequences!" and with that the vile enforcer took one look at Viral and said with a smirk

"Die you filthy, beast man." And the gunman raised its hulking arm and prepared to squish Viral like a cockroach. Just as the behemoth swung its arm something caught it before it even got close to Viral. It was Yakumo in New Gurren and as he held back the gunman's arm he said

"What the hell are you waiting for Nanashi? Take Mr. Viral and get him out of here!" and without another word Nanashi in Laggan came out of nowhere and grabbed Viral to take him to a safe place. While Nanashi was doing that Yakumo said to the enforcer

"It's time you and I get things started!" The enforcer pilot just laughed and said

"Fine then, bring it on!"

Nanashi kept running while trying to make sure Viral got to a safe place. Eventually Nanashi found the entrance to the tunnel, so he had Lagann run towards there where Yuriko was also hiding.

"Alright looks like my work here is done." Nanashi said as Lagann's cockpit opened. Viral looked straight at Nanashi and asked

"Just what do you mean by that?"

"I mean now that I've gotten you to safety I can relax because Yakumo is going to take care of that gunman." Said Nanashi, Viral then got off Lagann's hands and responded

"So you're just going to let him fight alone? Why would you do that, I thought he was your friend." After hearing that Nanashi got a scared and at the same time sad, look in his eyes.

"Yeah, well Yakumo knows more about gunmen than I do, so he would have a better chance of taking that thing down. Besides I would just get in his way." Viral then sat down and asked

"Tell me child, how long have you and your friend been piloting your gunmen?" Nanashi looked down at the ground with an ashamed look in his eyes and said

"A few days ago…..we started at the same time when." Nanashi was then interrupted by Viral, who got up punched him straight out of Lagann's cockpit, grabbed him and yelled

"Knowing about gunmen and fighting with a gunman are two different things boy! On top of that the gunman your friend is facing is a War captain class gunman and that's a very powerful gunman class, so look outside and then tell me if you think that friend of yours can handle it!" Viral then let go of Nanashi, Nanashi did just as Viral told him to and poked his head outside the tunnel entrance. What he saw horrified him, Yakumo's New Gurren was being beaten ruthlessly, every time Yakumo tried to attack the war captain gunman would just counter it. Viral stepped outside with Yuriko and said

"You see now, if you don't help him your friend will die. Are you just going to sit there and watch that happen or are you going to do something about it? He's counting on you child." Nanashi thought for only a moment and then ran towards Lagann, got in and ran to help Yakumo.

"How could I have been so selfish? Yakumo is my best friend and I almost let him die just because I was scarred." Thought Nanashi as he kept piloting Lagann towards the fight

"Had enough whelp!" said the enforcer as he stomped on Yakumo's New Gurren

"Guess you should've thought about who you were fighting before getting involved. Well that's too bad, because now you die!" and the enforcer got ready to deliver a finishing blow to New Gurren, but he was interrupted by Lagann who hit him with a lunging drill. As Nanashi landed Lagann on its feet Yakumo got New Gurren up on its feet.

"Ugh, Nanashi…..is Mr. Viral safe?" said Yakumo. Nanashi turned Lagann around and responded

"Yeah buddy, he and Yuriko are safe. He I can't leave you for two seconds without you getting into trouble can I?" Yakumo giggled a little and said

"I guess you can't Pal." Suddenly the enforcer's gunman got up and yelled

"That was a cheap shot, you little bastard! I'll crush both of you!" Nanashi turned around and faced the gunman.

"Who are you?" Nanashi asked

"My name is Doki. You can scream that after I kill you." Answered Doki, he then opened his cockpit and inside was a bald man covered in scars all over his body and his eyes seemed to scream death if you looked in them.

"Why are you attacking this place? The people here are peaceful and scarred of the outside, so what reason is there for you to attack a village in the middle of a wasteland?" The enforcer broke into gut busting laughter after listening to Nanashi's words. He then stopped himself after a minute of laughter and said

"Do I need a reason to kill off the worthless lives of these people? I was ordered to make sure that these savages in the wasteland weren't planning to rise up against lord Kiayata, but no one said that I couldn't have fun with it by slaughtering every filthy savage I find!" these words horrified Nanashi and at the same time it made his blood boil.

"So, you think killing innocent people is fun? What I'm going to find fun is kicking your ass!" and as soon as Doki closed his cockpit, Nanashi charged in to battle with drill blazing and not hearing Yakumo yell

"Wait! Don't do it Nanashi! He's too strong!"

Nanashi lunged straight for Doki's gunman, but he smacked him out of the way. Nanashi did everything he could to try and beat Doki, but in the end he has swatted and beaten like a fly. Finally Lagann and Nanashi were smacked so far back that it was back from where Nanashi started to charge.

"What's wrong small fry?! I thought you wanted to kick my ass! Or were you just all talk?" Nanashi looked down at his feet and said to Yakumo

"We're done for pal. He's too strong and none of attacks are getting through. What hope is left?" Yakumo looked at Lagann for a bit and said

"I have a plan, but you need to trust me." Yakumo made New Gurren pick up Lagann, as he was doing this Nanashi asked

"What are you doing?" Yakumo smirked and remarked

"Engage the bottom drill Nanashi, because we're going to combine!"


	13. Chapter 13 Return of Gurren Lagann

Nanashi engaged the bottom drill just as Yakumo told him to, but he was unsure what Yakumo meant by combining and wasn't sure how it worked.

"Combining……what do you mean by combining?" said Nanashi. Yakumo continued to make New Gurren raise Lagann as high as he could as he said

"I mean that we're making our two gunmen into one gunman and Lagann here is the key to doing so." Nanashi, still very confused responded

"Lagann can do that?" Yakumo then took a deep sigh and said

"Of coarse it can! How the hell do you think Gurren Lagann came into the picture? Now just stay still Nanashi, because I'm about to start!" New Gurren's raised arm suddenly slammed Lagann into the top of its head, making Lagann's bottom drill punch itself into New Gurren. Not much changed to be honest, in fact almost nothing happened. If you yourself looked at how weird and silly Nanashi and Yakumo's gunmen looked, with Lagann just sticking out of the top like an actual head you would probably laugh. The only thing that really changed was that shortly after Lagann was slammed in, a bright red helmet sprouted out covering Lagann's cockpit opening. The helmet looked kind of like a samurai's helmet, with a gold crescent in its center.

"Oh yeah!" yelled Yakumo "Now we're talking! Let's see how Doki deals with Gurren Laga…" He was interrupted quickly by a loud siren noise emanating from both gunmen. The icons on the screen looked like a security lock, as if Lagann itself didn't want to combine with New Gurren.

"Nanashi, we're in trouble! I can't move New Gurren, we're sitting ducks!" Yakumo said in a panic-like tone. Nanashi became very frightened and tried to move Lagann, but it also wouldn't budge.

"So that was your plan, looking like idiots? All you have accomplished is making yourselves an easier target to hit!" yelled Doki, as he began to charge. Nanashi started to struggle with the handles, desperately trying to make Lagann move.

"Come on you piece of junk, MOVE!" he continued to struggle, but to no avail Lagann wouldn't budge. Yakumo tried to make New Gurren move at first, but he also had no luck, so as Doki got closer and closer Yakumo closed his eyes and listened to the piercing siren. Nanashi's thoughts raced as fast as his heart did and over and over again he could hear himself thinking

"I can't die here; Yuriko and everyone in this village will die if I lose here. I can't let that happen!" and as he grasped Lagann's handles he started to scream

"I said, MOVE!!!!" Doki got in range of the two boys gunmen and said as he started to throw a punch

"Now DIE!!" but suddenly New Gurren's hand came up and caught the punch.

"So, you think that I can't stop you? Well that's where you're wrong, DEAD WRONG!" said Nanashi and with that the siren was silenced, he then used New Gurren's other arm to give an uppercut to the war captain gunman. Almost simultaneously to that the core drill in Lagann started to glow green. New Gurren's arms and legs suddenly extended, its color changed from pure white to bright red, and the helmet on Lagann began to change as well. The gold crescent in the center of the helmet disappeared, the helmet started to cover more of Lagann just a bit and finally two gold horn-like drills came out of the helmets sides. This new gunman looked like an improvement over the previous attempt and as it was completing itself Nanashi screamed at the top of his lungs as a battle cry

"Revival combining New Gurren Lagann!!!" Viral, who was watching from the tunnel, was shocked and amazed by the very sight of this magnificent gunman as he uttered

"How? That's impossible." Yuriko heard this and asked

"What's impossible Viral?" Viral looked at Yuriko for a bit and responded

"It's nothing I'll tell you when those two get back. Doki starred at New Gurren Lagann for a minute or so before becoming very frustrated.

"You think that a costume change will save you? Fat chance whelps! Now I'll make you both suffer!" and he started to charge once more. New Gurren Lagann quickly got out of the way of the charging captain and immedaitly changed its hand into a big drill.

"So that's how you want to play. Alright then!" yelled Doki and two blades came out of his gunman's arms. The two gunmen started clashing their weapons against each other in a way that seemed to defy all logic of how either of them were doing it. New Gurren Lagann kept blocking every single attack Doki's gunman threw at it, eventually New Gurren Lagann quickly attacked with its drill and with it tore off the war captain gunman's arm off.

"Why you little, I'll kill you!" and as he charged towards the two boys, New Gurren Lagann jumped out of the way and with its drill sliced off the other arm. Nanashi and Yakumo were in perfect sync in action, which made it seem like they had the same mind. As Doki's war captain gunman turned around and faced the clearly superior gunman, New Gurren Lagann , a weakness in his voice came up and said

"This…..this can't be……happening. You two can't defeat me, you're just two snot nosed kids" Nanashi yelled at the top of his lungs in response

"I'm Nanashi and you can tell your boss that his enforcers are going down!" and with that Nanashi and Yakumo made New Gurren Lagann change its hand into a drill-like arm canon and aimed it at Doki's gunman. Before shooting Nanashi yelled as the drill part started to spin and glow green

"Now take this! SPIRAL CRISIS!!!" and shot a blast of green energy that appeared to be spinning. The energy swiftly went straight for Doki and exploded on impact. Luckily for Doki, he ejected himself from the cockpit before the explosion, he landed on the ground and while yelling he said

"You little bastards, you haven't seen the last of me! I'll be back and when I do I'll kill you!" and he got out of his ejector seat and quickly ran away. Suddenly out of the blue, New Gurren Lagann separated back to New Gurren and Lagann, just as Doki became out of sight.

"Well that was different." Said Nanashi as he started to get out of Lagann's cockpit

"Yeah, for a second there I thought we were toast. By the way Nanashi, what did you do to make New Gurren Lagann move anyway?" replied Yakumo. Nanashi thought and thought about Yakumo's question but was still puzzled as he said

"I don't know……..I was just struggling to make the handles move and somehow they…….they just did." Viral came out of the tunnel and walked toward the two boys. He put his hands on Yakumo and Nanashi's shoulders and said

"Impressive, it seems we have even more to discuss than we had before. Come with me and I'll explain it to you." And he started to walk back in the direction of Crystal village, Yuriko and the two boys followed him back to his house. When they all got there Viral sat down in the chair from before and began to speak to Yuriko, Nanashi and Yakumo

"Do any of you know the story of the war between beast men and humans?"


	14. Chapter 14 The unlikely hero

When those words left Viral's mouth a hush fell over all three of them. Nanashi was confused and was unsure of what Viral was talking about. Yuriko was also unsure but eager to know what Viral was talking about. Yakumo on the other hand looked very excited and yelled out with a look of joy

"You bet I do! Why are you going to tell us what it was like to be in the war?" Nanashi, even more confused asked

"Huh, he was in it?" Yakumo's excited look vanished as he said with reluctance

"Of coarse he was Nanashi! He was the fist living being to fight Gurren Lagann." Viral gave a tiny smirk as he looked at Yakumo and said

"You seem to know a lot about the history of gunmen, don't you?" Yakumo's excited look returned when Viral said that.

"Yep, I have to I'm going to be the worlds greatest mechanic someday!" responded Yakumo. Viral then looked at all three of the young ones n front of him continued to speak.

"I see well getting past that then, what you need to know is that you Nanashi were not the first one to pilot Lagann. A man named Simon did and now that these enforcers have poisoned the earth, you must do what he did and save the world with this New Gurren Lagann, which we saw today. Nanashi thought it over and didn't respond for a bit. Yakumo then asked

"By the way Mr. Viral, why didn't move before and on top of that why did its form change compared to the original Gurren Lagann?"

"I'm not sure, but my guess is that it's because you tried to become Gurren Lagann by combining with that New Gurren of you must save this world and become a hero, like Simon." As Viral said this Nanashi broke his silence and yelled

"Well if that Simon was so great, then why don't you get him to do it?!" Viral wasn't in the least bit phased by his yelling.

"He's disappeared, no one knows where he is." Said viral, but Nanashi didn't care about this fact and continued to rant on.

"Then you do it! You know more than I do!" Viral then yelled back

"I can't! Beast men have no spiral power, so since you have enough to pilot Lagann that makes you obligated to!" This only made Nanashi angrier as he said holding the core drill in his hand

"Well give it someone else then, I'm no hero!" and he threw the core drill on the ground and stormed off. Viral walked after him and said

"Fine, if you feel so strongly about it then we can give it to one other person who can pilot Lagann." Nanashi's angry expression disappeared and he back inside with Viral.

"So who's this other pilot?" Nanashi asked. Viral went through some of his things and took out a picture and gave it to Nanashi. In the picture was a girl, wearing very little clothes, a skull hair pin, bright red hair (even brighter than Nanashi's), and holding a rifle in her hand.

"WOW! She's hot!!!" Yakumo blurted out while looking at the picture.

"Her name is Yoko and she too might have enough spiral power to pilot Lagann" Viral said while handing Nanashi the core drill. "She's now a school teacher at this island" and Viral pointed to a small island on the map hanged up in his room. Nanashi looked at the island on the map and said

"But it's over sea, how do we get there?" Viral turned to Nanashi and said

"Lagann can fly. You mean you didn't know that?" Nanashi then glared at Yakumo who responded "Well I didn't know and besides New Gurren can't fly. I didn't have enough parts for it fly." Yuriko heard this and said

"Well we have a junkyard with tons of unused gunmen flight components; you can visit there and then install it when you're ready." Yakumo's face lit up as he said

"Thanks! I'll get to it!" and ran off, even though he didn't know where he was going. Nanashi then later left the room with Yuriko; the two sat by a ledge and talked.

"Thank you." Said Yuriko

"Huh?" responded a confused Nanashi

"For saving Viral." Said Yuriko. "So why did you get angry when Viral told you about saving the world?" Nanashi looked down at his feet for a bit and then looked at Yuriko and responded

"Like I said, I'm no hero I'm just me. On top of that Yakumo is my best friend and in the both times I've used Lagann to fight, I nearly got him killed. If he does die because of these fights, I don't want to be the cause of my best friend's death." Yuriko knew how Nanashi felt with every word.

"I understand. If I was in your position, I'd do the same thing, especially if that was Viral." Nanashi rolled his eyes at the name Viral and asked

"Why do you care about him so much?" Yuriko's smile became more of a serious look as she said

"He took me in when I was alone and weak, he's the closest thing to family I have." From there Yuriko walked away and the three kids stayed in crystal village until three days later when Yakumo finally got the flight component in New Gurren to work.


End file.
